21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the world

Group 2 Members

1. Allen Russel Bautista – Leader

2. Alexandra Dennisse Raymundo – Secretary
3. Patricia Padin
4. KC Aldea Jacob
5. Jemimah Jael Meris
6. Kyla Chan

Grade 11 – ABM 3A

Submitted to: Ms Debbie Jane Rosquita

 The old man and the sea
Author: Ernest Hemingway

The Old Man and the Sea is a short novel written by the American author Ernest Hemingway in
1951 in Cuba, and published in 1952,It was the last major work of fiction by Hemingway that was
published during his lifetime. One of his most famous works, it tells the story of Santiago, an
aging Cuban fisherman who struggles with a giant marlin far out in the Gulf Stream off the coast of
Cuba.
In 1953, The Old Man and the Sea was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it was cited by
the Nobel Committee as contributing to their awarding of the Nobel Prize in Literature to Hemingway
in 1954

Characters

Santiago The novella'scentral character. A dedicated fisherman who taught

Manolin everything he knows about fishing, Santiago is now old and poor and has gone
84 days without a catch.

Manolin A young man from the fishing village who has fished with Santiago since the
age of five and now cares for the old man. Manolin recently began fishing with another
fisherman whom his parents consider luckier than Santiago.

Martin The owner of the Terrace (his name is Spanish for St. Martin), he sends food
and drink to Santiago through Manolin.

Rogelio A man of the village who on occasion helps Santiago with the fishing net.

Perico A man at the bodega (his name is Spanish for St. Peter, an apostle and
fisherman) who gives Santiago newspapers to read.

Marlin An eighteen-foot bluish billfish and a catch of legendary proportions.

Mako A mackerel shark (dentuso in Spanish) that is a voracious and frightening killer
known for its rows of large, sharp teeth.

Shovel-nosed sharks the scavenger sharks (galanos in Spanish) that destroy the

marlin.

Pedrico A fisherman in the village who looks after Santiago's skiff and gear and
receives the marlin's head to use in fish traps.
Tourists A man and woman at the Terrace who see the marlin's skeleton and,
misunderstanding a waiter's explanation of what happened, think the skeleton is that of
a shark.

Summary
The Old Man and the Sea tells the story of a battle between an aging, experienced
fisherman, Santiago, and a large marlin. The story opens with Santiago having gone 84 days without
catching a fish, and now being seen as "salao", the worst form of unluckiness. He is so unlucky that
his young apprentice, Manolin, has been forbidden by his parents to sail with him and has been told
instead to fish with successful fishermen. The boy visits Santiago's shack each night, hauling his
fishing gear, preparing food, talking about American baseball and his favorite player, Joe DiMaggio.
Santiago tells Manolin that on the next day, he will venture far out into the Gulf Stream, north
of Cuba in the Straits of Florida to fish, confident that his unlucky streak is near its end.
On the eighty-fifth day of his unlucky streak, Santiago takes his skiff into the Gulf Stream, sets his
lines and, by noon, has his bait taken by a big fish that he is sure is a marlin. Unable to haul in the
great marlin, Santiago is instead pulled by the marlin, and two days and nights pass with Santiago
holding onto the line. Though wounded by the struggle and in pain, Santiago expresses a
compassionate appreciation for his adversary, often referring to him as a brother. He also
determines that, because of the fish's great dignity, no one shall deserve to eat the marlin.
On the third day, the fish begins to circle the skiff. Santiago, worn out and almost delirious, uses all
his remaining strength to pull the fish onto its side and stab the marlin with a harpoon. Santiago
straps the marlin to the side of his skiff and heads home, thinking about the high price the fish will
bring him at the market and how many people he will feed.
On his way in to shore, sharks are attracted to the marlin's blood. Santiago kills a great mako
shark with his harpoon, but he loses the weapon. He makes a new harpoon by strapping his knife to
the end of an oar to help ward off the next line of sharks; five sharks are slain and many others are
driven away. But the sharks keep coming, and by nightfall the sharks have almost devoured the
marlin's entire carcass, leaving a skeleton consisting mostly of its backbone, its tail and its head.
Santiago knows that he is defeated and tells the sharks of how they have killed his dreams. Upon
reaching the shore before dawn on the next day, Santiago struggles to his shack, carrying the heavy
mast on his shoulder, leaving the fish head and the bones on the shore. Once home, he slumps onto
his bed and falls into a deep sleep.
A group of fishermen gather the next day around the boat where the fish's skeleton is still attached.
One of the fishermen measures it to be 18 feet (5.5 m) from nose to tail. Pedrico is given the head of
the fish, and the other fishermen tell Manolin to tell the old man how sorry they are. Tourists at the
nearby café mistakenly take it for a shark. The boy, worried about the old man, cries upon finding
him safe asleep and at his injured hands. Manolin brings him newspapers and coffee. When the old
man wakes, they promise to fish together once again. Upon his return to sleep, Santiago dreams of
his youth—of lions on an African beach.